


Would It Be So Bad?

by Lil_Lizard_Leah



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trapped In A Closet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-10 19:24:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18414308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lil_Lizard_Leah/pseuds/Lil_Lizard_Leah
Summary: The Losers have been trying to get Richie and Eddie to admit their feelings for one another for years. They decide that this summer will be the summer that they finally make it happen. When Stan and Beverly hatch a plan to get them alone together, it might just be enough to push them over the edge.(Based off of a prompt from tumblr: "Apparently all our friends have a bet going that we’ll end up together.”)





	Would It Be So Bad?

It was a warm sunny day in Derry Maine. The birds were chirping, kids were riding their bicycles, and Richie and Eddie were shoved in a closet together; a place neither of them had been since Junior year.

When they’d decided to come out at the same time, previously only having confided in one another about their sexuality, the response from their group was explosive.

The entire Losers Club seemed unanimous on the idea that Richie and Eddie were perfect for each other, and now that it was confirmed that they were both into guys, there was no reason for them not to get together.

Despite Eddie groaning every time it got brought up, and Richie wiggling his eyebrows so suggestively they threatened to jump right off his forehead, the Losers didn’t quit their mission to get their friends together.

It had been four years now, and those four years had consisted of multiple attempts to get Eddie and Richie alone in the most romantic or  _compromising_  situations possible.

There were more innocent occurrences, like when the Losers would plan a movie night and then all coincidentally cancel last minute, leaving Richie and Eddie to go the night alone. Those were the times that were easy to laugh through, when the pair would stuff their faces with popcorn and rag on their friends all night, laughing into the early morning before passing out together on the couch.

But there were also moments that stirred things low in their bellies, feelings that neither of them were ready to acknowledge. The time the Losers all went skinny dipping together up at Ben’s cottage, and then stole Richie and Eddie’s clothes when they weren’t looking. They had to walk back to the cottage nude and alone, averting their travelling gazes and suppressing their urges.

The more time passed, the more fed-up the Losers seemed to get with Richie and Eddie’s untouched chemistry. Finally, they had decided that this summer would be the summer that they finally got these two idiots to confess their feelings.

That’s when the bets began being placed. Bill and Ben, the hopeless romantics of the group, had put their money down for the first month of summer, insisting that June would be the winner. Mike was alone in bidding for the second month, hoping that his 4th of July party would be the tipping point. Finally, Bev and Stan placed their money on August, pessimistic that their friends would pull their heads out of their asses any sooner.

Well, June and July had gone by in a flurry of disappointment, which lead to Bev and Stan putting together a plan of action.

The invitation to Stan’s house was presumably innocent. Stan had invited Richie and Eddie over to help him and Beverly bake a cake for Mike’s upcoming birthday. Richie didn’t know what knowledge he had to offer on baking, but he wasn’t about to turn down the opportunity to lick batter off a spoon. Eddie, on the other hand, had about as much talent in his pinkie as the rest of the losers had combined.

The afternoon had gone according to plan, Eddie took charge of delegating tasks, getting feisty when Beverly started a flour fight instead of concentrating, and scrunching his nose up as Richie licked a spoon clean while holding unwavering eye contact with him.

Unfortunately, what Eddie and Richie didn’t know, was that Bev and Stan’s plan was also going accordingly, landing Richie and Eddie in Stan’s small walk in closet as they looked for clothes to change into, their own now covered in flour (thank you, Beverly).

“Just pick whatever fits.” Stan offered.

“You’re a beanstalk, nothing is going to fit.” Eddie grumbled, looking through a rack of button ups.

“Hey, do not insult our kind just because you’re too short to-”

“I will never be ‘your kind’, Richie.” Stan interrupted.

“That’s right, because I’m one of a kind!”

“No one’s arguing that.” Eddie mumbled sarcastically under his breath.

“Bold words from someone who’s tiny enough to be Stuart Little’s stunt double.”

As the pair continued their quarrel, Stan slowly backed up out of the closet. He gave Beverly a nod, and then the next few seconds were filled with commotion.

Stan slammed the closet doors shut as Beverly swooped in with a chair, propping it between the door handles and the floor to effectively cage the two boys inside. Protests could be heard but Stan and Beverly began speaking over it.

“You two can come out when you’re done denying the inevitable.” Beverly stated.

“We gave you all summer but apparently you’re both too stubborn to make a move.”

“We’ve got fifty dollars riding on this, don’t let us down!” Beverly added, before retreating to the living room with Stan.

Richie and Eddie glared at the door, their irritation palatable in the tiny space.

“Well, apparently all our friends have a bet going that we’ll end up together.” Eddie stated irately, turning to face Richie.

“Those greedy little bastards will bet on anything.” Richie sighed, not too surprised to find that there was now money on this...  _thing_  the Losers had been trying to make happen for years.

Eddie let his arms drop from where they’d been crossed against his chest. He dragged his feet over to the back of the closet and slid down the wall, sitting on the carpeted ground with a thud.

“Do you think they’ll ever give this up?” He asked, nibbling on the sleeve of his sweater.

Richie took to rifling through Stan’s clothes, determined to fuck things up for him as much as possible for as long as he kept them locked in here.

“Probably not.” Richie shrugged. He began grabbing random items and misplacing them, knowing that Stan had a strict way of organizing his closet that he never let anyone disrupt.

“Maybe we should just...” Eddie sighed, letting his head bump against the wall. “I don’t know, lie? Say we’re dating to get them off our back?”

“Stan would see right through it. He’s like a bloodhound, except he smells deceit.”

Eddie watched as Richie mixed Stan’s linens with his cottons, and then began turning every single one of his sweaters inside out before hanging them back up.

“Stan is going to kill you.” Eddie commented.

“Not as much as I’m gonna kill him once he opens that door.”

Eddie stayed silent. He knew how much they both hated their friends’ antics, but at some point, Eddie had sort of started to enjoy these moments too.

Spending time alone with Richie was always way more fun than spending time with any of the other Losers. Even though the taller boy got on his nerves to no end, he always had a good time when he was around.

“Would it be so bad?” Eddie thought aloud.

Richie gave a little hum, indicating he was listening but not following.

“If we, like, got together.”

Richie froze in the middle of unlacing a pair of Stan’s shoes, a pile of laces already collecting beside him.

“Uh... do  _you_  think it’d be bad?” Richie asked hesitantly.

“You’re avoiding the question.” Eddie said. “You can be harsh, you won’t hurt my feelings.”

Richie twiddled with the string in his hands, pretending to be too preoccupied to look up.

“Honestly? I don’t know, Eds. I love the way we are. I don’t want anything to change.” Richie admitted.

Eddie had heard those words before, echoing around in his mind from his own thoughts. Richie was his best friend, and he didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize their relationship.

“Wouldn’t it be weird, anyway?” Richie asked as he began tying all of the shoelaces together in one long train.

“I mean, I don’t know. Don’t we pretty much already act like a couple, by everyone’s else’s standards?”

Richie nodded minutely. “I guess.”

“All that would really change is...” Eddie cut himself off before his words could thicken the atmosphere.

“I’d be rocking your world every night?” Richie supplied with a smirk.

Eddie threw him an unimpressed look, cutting it short to look away and hide the blush on his cheeks.

“Well, as fun as this game of ‘capture the Reddie’ has been, it’s getting a bit old. So if you ever feel like taking a ride on Richie, just let me know.”

Eddie’s face scrunched up in disgust.

“Gross.”

“Hey, you’re the one suggesting we get together.” Richie defended.

Eddie’s face flared up again, the red dusting his cheeks nearly imperceptible in the low lighting of the closet.

“Whatever. I take it back.”

“Nu-uh, no take-backs.” Richie stated proudly, using the long connection of shoelaces as a makeshift scarf and draping it around Eddie’s neck, using the ends to pull him closer.

“You want to love on me.” Richie singsonged.

“Shut up, Richie.”

“Frankly, I don’t blame you. I’m a looker. My mom says I could be a model.  _Your_  mom says I could be a  _playboy_  model.”

“Richie, I swear to god-”

“It’s not your fault you’re attracted to me, really, you’re only human.”

“If you don’t stop talking-”

“There’s a reason I’m the eye candy of the group.”

Eddie, now mere inches from Richie’s blabbering mouth thanks to the maneuvering from the shoelace scarf, did the only thing he could think of to shut him up.

Richie let out a startled yip as Eddie crashing their lips together, his eyes squeezed shut as Richie’s widened.

It took a moment, one long agonizing moment of hesitation, before Richie was pushing back into the kiss.

Their lips moved together easily, soft and pliant against one another, flavored with a faint taste of peppermint chapstick.

The kiss wasn’t deep. It didn’t last uncharacteristically long, nor did it ween off into other activities. It just, was. And once it wasn’t, Richie and Eddie both felt a distinct loss in their chests that felt both familiar and unfamiliar all at once.

It was the same feeling they got every time they had to part ways to go home for dinner. The same feeling they got when one of them left for vacation. The same feeling they got when they arrived at school, eager to see the other, only to find out they were home sick.

It was the feeling of loss when your other half wasn’t with you. And now that they’d kissed, anything less felt like a loss.

They reconnected within an instant, surging towards each other with renewed fervor. This time the kiss became more, became heavy, became  _wanting_. It was an acknowledgement of years of repressed feelings, an apology for all the time lost, and a promise to never revert back.

Eddie let Richie pull him into his chest, falling backwards so they laid together in a heap of grasping hands. Richie’s fingers threaded through Eddie’s hair, Eddie’s hands clambered at Richie’s chest, their mouths became open caves as tongues explored new ground.

There’s no way of knowing how long they stayed like that before the doors to the closet reopened.

Eddie lifted his head, squinting as his eyes got used to the natural light coming in from Stan’s window. Richie stayed laying on the ground, tilting his head back and being greeted by an upside down Beverly.

“Stan! We made fifty bucks!” Beverly yelled excitedly into the hallway.

Eddie and Richie untangled themselves from each other, standing up slowly as their minds struggled to catch up to the real world.

“No way, they actually did it!?” Stan barreled into the room, observing the pair as they exited the closet, noticeably disheveled.

“You guys better not have had sex in there.” He added as an after thought.

Richie sighed, grabbed his art piece from around Eddie’s neck and balling it up before tucking the connected shoelaces into Stan’s shirt pocket, patting it lightly.  
  
“Thanks for the chill time, Stan the man.”

Stan and Bev stared after them quizzically as they left the room.

They were halfway down the hallway when Stan discovered the state of his closet.

“WHAT THE FUCK, RICHARD!?”

With hands interlocked, and matching giggling grins, they booked it out of Stan’s house.


End file.
